New York socialite Caroline Ferriday has her hands full with her post at the French consulate and a new love on the horizon. But Caroline's world is forever changed when Hitler's army invades Poland in September 1939 - and then sets its sights on France. An ocean away from Caroline, Kasia Kuzmerick, a Polish teenager, senses her carefree youth disappearing as she is drawn deeper into her role as courier for the underground resistance movement.

Secrets of a Charmed Life

Current day, Oxford, England. Young American scholar Kendra Van Zant, eager to pursue her vision of a perfect life, interviews Isabel McFarland just when the elderly woman is ready to give up secrets about the war that she has kept for decades...beginning with who she really is. What Kendra receives from Isabel is both a gift and a burden--one that will test her convictions and her heart.

The Woman Next Door

Two suburban women. Two dark secrets. The almost perfect murder. Everybody needs good neighbours.... Melissa and Hester have lived next door to each other for years. When Melissa's daughter was younger, Hester was almost like a grandmother to her. But recently they haven't been so close. Hester has plans to change all that. It's obvious to her that despite Melissa's outwardly glamorous and successful life, she needs Hester's help.

Her Sister's Shoes

Samantha Sweeney has always been the glue that holds her family together, their go-to girl for love and support. When an ATV accident leaves her teenage son in a wheelchair, she loses her carefully constructed self-control. In the after-gloom of her dreaded 50th birthday and the discovery of her husband's infidelity, Jackie realizes she must reconnect with her former self to find the happiness she needs to move forward.

The Story of Our Life

Colm strolled into my life 15 years ago. If there's ever such a thing as love at first sight, that was it for us both. A few weeks later we married, celebrating with those who cared. This was going to be forever, the happy ever after...until it wasn't. We discovered a devastating truth, one that blew away our future. What would you do if your husband slept with another woman?

The One I Was

Restless, troubled Rosamond Hunter has spent most of her life running away from the past, filled with guilt about her involuntary role in her mother's death. When her nursing job brings her back to Fairfleet, her childhood home, to care for an elderly refugee, she is forced to confront the ghosts that have haunted her for so long.

sharon says:"Unusually Beautiful Story"

Publisher's Summary

When newlywed Dolly Magnuson moves to 1950s Pine Rapids, Wisconsin, she discovers that making marriage work is harder than it looks in the pages of the Ladies Home Journal. As she adapts to her new life, her restless imagination is seized by an abandoned Victorian house which, she learns from quilting-circle gossip, belongs to the once prominent Mickelson family. When she trespasses in the mansion, she is discovered by the troubled grandson, JJ Mickelson, a Marine veteran who lost his leg at Iwo Jima. Ultimately, JJ reveals the fascinating story of his family's downfall, and both Dolly and JJ will likewise discover the truths of their own lives and feelings.

The publisher's review does not do justice to the intricacies and depth of this novel. I loved this book on many levels. First of all, there is the humor. Descriptions of the ideal housewife of the 40s and 50s are wryly amusing, but at the same time, isn't simple goodness and striving to please an important essence of a good marriage? The dynastic tale of the Michelson family is intensely interesting. Is there truly a curse at work, or are the 3 generations we come to know so intimately, predestined to live lives shaped by their own foibles, or in some cases by their very strengths. This book is part mystery and suspense, part cautionary tale, part allegory of hope and ultimate redemption.
If you enjoy good story telling you will enjoy this book.

Can't blame the messenger. The performance was fine. The plot was not believable. Offensive story. The treatment or should I say tolerance of rape and gross alcoholism, of sexual power relationships was unforgivable. Trash. Don't waste your time.